Local 19-year-old catches huge white sturgeon in Canada

MILTON, Ga. — When father and son Ron and Paul Jarvis of Milton traveled to the Fraser River in Canada, they hoped their first fishing trip together would be the trip of a lifetime. June 12, the first day of their trip, Paul caught an 11-foot-10-inch sturgeon weighing close to 900 pounds.

The father-son duo were still reeling in a 6-foot sturgeon when one of the other lines pulled. The white giant then jumped out of the water toward their boat.

“Most of the sturgeon come completely out of the water; you’ll see a 6-foot fish dancing on top of the water. But this one was so big, it just came out about halfway and fell over toward us,” said Ron.

“It was 56 inches in circumference, so its head was huge,” he said. “And when we saw that, we all just gasped and said, ‘Oh my gosh, what have we got?’”

The guide told them that there was less than a 2 percent chance of catching it.

For two and a half hours, despite Paul’s best efforts, the fish didn’t budge from the bottom of the river, more than once nearly pulling him overboard. But after another hour, Paul had completely pulled it into the boat.

Paul heard about sturgeon watching the show “River Monsters.”

“I heard how big they get and how much of a fight they put up, and just how amazing these fish are,” Paul said. “I’ve always wanted to try to catch one, or at least see one.”

Paul is a rising sophomore at University of the Ozarks in Clarksville, Arkansas, and a graduate of Mill Springs Academy in Alpharetta.